hmmm, i wonder how accurate that activity tracker is.... like how much of that time is thrown on there when the person is basically logged in but not doing anything?!? unless we know what we're sampling, we can be pretty skeptical about how much time we actually "waste" here

I didn't let it ruin my life. I grew some balls, some resolve, and some mental fortitude, put my antisocial INTP hat back on, remembered that internet interaction is as meaningless, fruitless, and fanciful as Jewish children's book in Hitler's private library, and reduced my hours on mbtic . All internet interactions are a detached sort of means toward individuals deriving entertainment from faceless automatons. Interacting with "people" on the internet is not about interacting with "people" it's about interacting with the computer and keyboard, two objects which don't require any of the things essential to forming good relationships with other human beings, nothing of meaning or substance. It's a sad sad replacement for time that should be spent with people you know in person, a higher level of interaction which has, in this day and age, been diminished by the same sort of electronic communicative function so prevalent in every part of our lives.

Or maybe I'm just rambling again...

Here's something I heard some weeks ago that says it perfectly.

The Emptiness of Internet “Friending”
June 29, 2009 on 5:28 am | In Facebook, MySpace, Relationships, Social Networking, Twitter Email This Post Email This Post

Either directly (e.g., sadness about not having a relationship with a parent or sibling) or indirectly (e.g., having trouble being intimate), more and more callers to my radio program report a sad sort of alienation from close, loving relationships. Yet the numbers of people deeply invested in “virtual” relationships via Internet “friending” social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, is growing exponentially. We are involved more in frivolous levels of intimacy and less invested in warm, caring, loving, involved relationships.

The pseudo meaningfulness we imagine as we add our names and faces to someone’s Internet site is addictive, yet ultimately vacuous. There isn’t really anyone out there who cares enough to hold your hand when you are in pain.

The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of California reported last week that 28% of Americans interviewed last year said they have been spending less time with family members. That’s nearly triple from the numbers in 2006.

In the old days when television was young, families watched together in one room. Now there are TVs in every room of the home, with 500 or more channels, and the family is dispersed, with each “doing their own thing.” The Internet is a one-on-one, non-family experience also - breaking down the cohesiveness of family dynamics, parenting, sharing, and plain old caring.

The problem is that people are, by nature, gregarious. That means we need company. When we spend our time with the technology that minimizes the intimacy of company, we forever alter the ability of individuals to actually experience pure intimacy in a positive, ultimately satisfying manner. And the experience of having lots of so-called “friends” on the Internet is beguiling, but empty — -in effect, a distorted form of solitude.

There is no wonder that so many people have a deep problem with being able to love - they mostly want to be satisfied by flattery, freedom from reciprocal responsibility and the reality of obligations and responsibilities, much less sacrifice for the general good or the benefit of another.

Technological advances in “communication” have actually increased the number of people you can interact with, but have more importantly diluted out the meaningfulness of those same interactions.

Think of families together at dinner, and a whole town helping rebuild your barn. Compare that to what you have now in your life. Which is better for quality of life?